Electrochemical techniques for lab-on-a-chip applications.

During the last few years there has been a rapid increase in the use of electrochemical reactions in lab-on-a-chip devices. This development, which has so far mainly focussed on electrochemical detection in chip-based capillary electrophoresis, can be explained by the fact that electrochemical techniques and devices are particularly well-suited for inclusion in lab-on-a-chip systems. The most important reason for this is that the required electrodes can readily be manufactured and miniaturised without loss of analytical performance using conventional microfabrication methods. In this Research Highlight article, the developments during the last three years concerning electrochemical techniques for lab on-a-chip applications are discussed, with particular focus on emerging electrochemical methods for sample clean-up and preconcentration, electrochemical derivatisation and electrochemical detection in chip-based capillary electrophoresis.